Aimée Dorr, veteran dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, today (June 19) was named the next University of California provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs.
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Aimée Dorr[/caption]As UC provost, she will serve as the system's chief academic officer and lead efforts to ensure the academic excellence of UC's 10 campuses during a time of unprecedented fiscal challenges.
She was selected by UC President Mark G. Yudof after an exhaustive national search that included consultation with a 15-member advisory committee of faculty, students, staff and senior academic leaders representing all 10 UC campuses. Her appointment was ratified by the Board of Regents at a special meeting today. She will assume her new responsibilities on July 2, replacing Lawrence Pitts, who previously announced his retirement.
Dorr, a professor of education at UCLA since 1981, became dean of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS) in 1999. Among the leadership positions she has held within the UC system are chair and vice chair of the UC Academic Senate and faculty representative to the UC Board of Regents.
"Aimée Dorr is an accomplished leader with superb management skills, strategic vision and a longstanding commitment to expanding educational opportunities for all segments of society," Yudof said. "Her inclusive management style and understanding of the University of California at all levels will serve the entire system and each of our 10 campuses very well during these challenging times."
Before joining the faculty at UCLA, Dorr was a faculty member at Stanford University, Harvard University and the University of Southern California, where she served as associate dean of the Annenberg School of Communications. At Stanford, she also served one year as special adviser to the president for childcare policy. At the same time that she became GSE&IS dean, she became co-chair of UCLA's Academic Preparation and Educational Partnership Programs, formerly known as Outreach Programs.
"I look forward to joining with those who have been striving to sustain and grow the academic excellence of the University of California during these particularly difficult times," said Dorr. "Building on the accomplishments and talents of the academic affairs team led so ably by Provost Pitts, I am confident we can overcome the obstacles that, without our combined efforts, would undermine the quality and access that have made this great university a model for the world and a treasure for the people of California."
Dorr will receive an annual salary of $350,000, the same as Pitts, who had received no increase in compensation since assuming the position in February 2009. The previous provost, Rory Hume, was paid $425,000 annually. Dorr's appointment salary lags the market median of $439,000 by more than 20 percent. She will receive a standard benefits package, as well as reimbursement of moving expenses and as many as two house hunting trips.
Dorr is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. Her research has focused on electronic media and the processes by which young people make sense of, utilize and are affected by electronic media. Her expertise also includes policy analysis and the role of research in policy decision making. She has advised on national policy for children's television for the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission and on food marketing to children and youth for the Institute of Medicine.
Her tenure at UCLA contributed significantly to the GSE&IS's research pre-eminence in equity, access and multiculturalism in K-12 and higher education, and in library, archival and information services. Under her leadership, the school significantly broadened the diversity of its faculty, students and staff, increased graduate enrollment in state-supported programs by one-third and tenure track faculty by approximately 20 percent.
Her development expertise is evident in the increased financial support she obtained for students in doctoral and professional programs and her success in securing the largest gift to the school from a living donor. Under her direction, GSE&IS has taken the lead in creating and supporting the UCLA Community School, a Los Angeles Unified School District K-12 pilot school that serves a primarily low-income, immigrant community in the Pico-Union/Koreatown area and simultaneously addresses UC's commitments to teaching, research and service. It is a sister school to UCLA's preK-6 demonstration school, which reports to her. She was co-founder of the Los Angeles Basin Education Deans group and a member of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Education Advisory Group.
Dorr, who is 69, received her B.S. in mathematics from Stanford University, where she also earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology.